Page:Rolland - Beethoven, tr. Hull, 1927.pdf/177

 meditative feeling having, apparently, crept into the Allegretto, which should again be taken as two bars in one. The Rondo in E is of great beauty and finish. The middle episode has again the feeling of a hunting song.

They appeared for the first time in December, 1799.

The first movement, in Sonata form, is a remarkable example of the growth of a whole movement from a single germ.

The Andante is an air with variations. The form of this is really ternary, although if the second part be repeated, it will throw the theme into five sections, A, B, A, B, A. The first variation places the air in the tenor, the second divides the harmony rhythmically, the third breaks up the harmony into semiquavers. Purists hold that this movement is wrongly barred throughout, the first beat coming where the third now is.

In the last sprightly movement, the Scherzo and Finale seem to have sun into one.